Central Florida Barn and Race Shop

[japsfinest]

Hello All,

I have been lurking on the site for a long time and have read many-many-many "builds" in the hopes to one day have my own garage build. One month a go, my wife found a property on realtor.com that had a massive (for my standards) barn. Needless to say, we closed on it less than a week ago and now I am ready to start my build. I have plans to split the 2800 sq ft building into 2 separate areas. 1 bay will house the basic barn items like tractor, wheel barrow, and wood working tools. The other 2 bays will be a race shop with 2 lifts, an engine dyno and plenty of automotive tools.

Here are pictures of it on day1:

 

[taumac]

Wow, the that's gonna be nice shop. Welcome to the GJ.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Wow, the that's gonna be nice shop. Welcome to the GJ.

I can only echo that sentiment..

 

[japsfinest]

Thanks fellas!

 

[sean Buick 76]

WOW, this will be awesome!

Before I die I hope to have an engine dyno, so you are my hero already!

 

[NTCRS]

Wow, amazing potential on the building, and I love the white Tundra

 

[Deezler]

Nice huge space you have there!

Being in Central Florida.... you at all concerned about Hurricane Matthew? I see a lot of FL barns are made from cement block and hurricane strength is the main reason why, I presume?

 

[japsfinest]

Nice huge space you have there!

Being in Central Florida.... you at all concerned about Hurricane Matthew? I see a lot of FL barns are made from cement block and hurricane strength is the main reason why, I presume?

Hi Deezer,

yes I am slightly concerned because I am also on the top of a hill and it is somewhat breezy on a regular day with no storm in the horizon. I just went over to secure the building before the storm. We will have approximately 23 hours of tropical storm winds with 14 of those as hurricane strength winds. The wind gusts are at the limit of the construction of my building at 110mph. If the storm gets any closer, I am sure my build will start with reconstruction....

 

[Bib Overalls]

Hi Deezer,
I am also on the top of a hill and it is somewhat breezy on a regular day with no storm in the horizon.

The only hill in central Florida that I am familiar with is the ridge that runs south of Micanopy between I-75 and US 441. Would that be you? Three of my cousins have places on or near that ridge. Used to visit quite often when I lived in Tampa. Nice area.

 

[japsfinest]

Its been a while since I have updated this thread but thats only because I have been bust working on the building. Here is where I am with it:

Floor Prep and coating -I rented a floor buffer from home Depot and the Diamond plate cutting disk. This was used to shave the top layer of concrete. I did this twice(OCD). I also pressure washed the floor 8-10 times to get all the dirt dust and debris out of the space. I then Etched the concrete creating more fine particle dust and it requires several more pressure washes. At some point I realized that the floor was as prepped as I wanted it and decided to go ahead and lay down the epoxy. I choose to go with the 2.5 car kits from Rustoleoum these were the polycuramine stuff that is supposed to be stronger than traditional (over the counter kits). Since I really opened up the pores of the concrete. I ended up using 500 sq ft kit in about 200 sq ft. needless to say the 6 kits that I originally purchased were not enough and I ended up using a total of 10 kits for 2800 sq ft. and that was stretching the product thinner than what I wanted too..

-Lift install-Once the floor cured, I started bringing over some tools and installed my lift. I was slightly concerned about concrete depth since I had no idea what I was working with. The wej-it anchors used for the lift require a depth of 4"-6" to be properly set. I went ahead and drilled to 7" on my test whole with out breaking through the slab.

-Electrical- The previous owner ran extension cords from one circuit to all corners of the building so I went ahead and went back to HomeDepot's rental desk and rented this JLG Lift to assist with running the wiring.

I went ahead and ran a TON of home runs to make sure I had plenty of power and was not going to overload any circuit. with 19 home runs and 1500 ft of romex I was able to get the base wiring to where I wanted it and have plenty of expansion capabilities.

Next I spent a couple of days putting up some lighting and swtiches since the wiring was complete and breakers were put into the main breaker box.

Lastly, (this morning) I finished the framing of the Engine Room(Room on the left) and the man cave/business office/loft on the second level. Underneath the loft will be storage. It is large enough to park a race car underneath or quads and lawn equipment to other larger items that would normally consume precious floor space.

Here is a pics from before the loft went up:

 

[theoldwizard1]

I hope you plan on putting some more posts along the back and sides of those bean you install for the floor joist of your mezzanine. Simply bracketing to a ledger is NOT adequate ! There have been catastrophic failures and injures from construction like that.

Post at least at the corners !

 

[Boosted1]

Nice space.
I like the GTRs. Need more pics of them.

 

[ryanp77]

Ooh a Panigale and some GTR's

 

[japsfinest]

I hope you plan on putting some more posts along the back and sides of those bean you install for the floor joist of your mezzanine. Simply bracketing to a ledger is NOT adequate ! There have been catastrophic failures and injures from construction like that.

Post at least at the corners !

Yes Absolutely! I am also adding an additional 2 posts on the front side to help better distribute the weight of the mezzanine. I am not planning on having much up there but yes agreed and by no means is this a finished product but a work in progress. Thanks!

 

[polexican23]

not one GTR, but 2. and a nice Duc.